Click on a thumbnail picture below to see the full size version. 44 Entries. Tuesday, April 2 View Page My parents bought me a greenhouse for my birthday   Tuesday, April 2 View Page The dimensions are 10 by 32 ft. I think that I could grow a plant in a flag pattern in here and it would work good.   Friday, April 5 View Page Rainy day here today, I'm inside pondering my line-up for this year.   Sunday, April 14 View Page It's seed starting day!   Sunday, April 14 View Page Here's what I decided to go with. 1953 Daletas x2, 2342 Stelts and a 2227 Stelts. I will pick the best 2 out of these 4 plants to grow.   Sunday, April 14 View Page I filed the edges of the seeds and soaked them in water for an hour.   Sunday, April 14 View Page Seeds are planted and are warming on a heating mat. Let the fun begin!   Monday, April 15 View Page I planted some giant sunflower seeds a few days ago and they're starting to sprout.   Thursday, April 18 View Page 80 hours after planting, no action yet.   Friday, April 19 View Page 2342 Stelts is the first one to sprout, it just started peaking through the soil this afternoon. Still waiting on the other 3.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page All seeds sprouted. 3 of them have warped and wonky looking cots for some reason though? Not sure what that's about but oh well.   Tuesday, April 23 View Page I was doing the annual removal of walnut tree roots from the edge of the patch.   Thursday, April 25 View Page I moved the pumpkin seedlings into bigger pots today. Plants on the right side of the pic are the giant sunflowers and a turk's turban squash.   Friday, April 26 View Page I put my plants in the greenhouse during the day.   Friday, April 26 View Page They look good after being transplanted into the bigger pots.   Sunday, April 28 View Page I finished tilling the outside patch, it's ready for planting.   Wednesday, May 1 View Page Plant update, they look okay, maybe a tad bit off. Their first true leaf just looks a little weird to me, maybe the soil mixture is a little low on something. I'm sure once I put them in the ground they'll perk up.   Sunday, May 5 View Page Here's the plants today, they're looking better than a few days ago.   Sunday, May 5 View Page I've decided that I'm going to grow 3 plants instead of 2. I'm going to expand the garden and plant one in front of the greenhouse.   Thursday, May 9 View Page I planted the 2342 Stelts in the outside patch west. This is my best plant so far so I figured I'd give it the biggest spot.   Thursday, May 9 View Page I put the 1953 Daletas in outside patch east.   Thursday, May 9 View Page I put the 2227 Stelts in the greenhouse.   Thursday, May 9 View Page I have a few other things growing in the corner of the patch. Carolina reaper pepper, giant sunflowers and a turks turban squash.   Monday, June 3 View Page Time for an update. This is the 2227 Stelts, looks good so far. I have this one growing in the greenhouse underneath insect netting.   Monday, June 3 View Page This is the 2342 Stelts, it looks pretty rough. The weather hasn't been great lately and I think it's taking its toll. It's supposed to warm up later this week, though.   Monday, June 3 View Page This is the 1953 Daletas, looks not bad.   Monday, June 3 View Page These are my giant sunflowers, they have been doing good despite the poor weather.   Monday, June 3 View Page These are my giant cucumber plants. I'm going to plant them in the greenhouse.   Friday, July 26 View Page Update time, I'll start with the 2342 Stelts. This one is self pollinated and on day 19. It's growing well, I like the shape so far.   Friday, July 26 View Page Next up is the 1953 Daletas. This one is on day 20 and is also self pollinated. It's growing good, it's about the same size as the 2342.   Friday, July 26 View Page Last, and unfortunately least, is the 2227 Stelts. Every fruit that I have set on this plant has been deformed and poor growing, which is extra disappointing as this is my greenhouse plant. I will probably pull the plant soon.   Friday, July 26 View Page My giant cucumber on plant #1. It's doing really good. I have these plants growing in the greenhouse with the 2227.   Friday, July 26 View Page My giant cucumber on plant #2. Doing great so far.   Saturday, August 17 View Page I lost the 1953 Daletas to mosaic. It started showing the discolored spotted pattern on its new growth 5 days ago and I immediately pulled it. It was 36 days old and probably weighs between 500 and 600 lbs. I'm down to 1 competitive plant now. I had kept the garden and the 10 feet surrounding it free from weeds to try to remove the reservoirs for the virus but evidently it wasn't enough. I have spent the past 5 days weeding our entire yard to see if that helps. The 2342 Stelts still looks okay.   Tuesday, August 20 View Page Pic of me with the 2342 Stelts from a couple of days ago, day 42.   Friday, August 23 View Page My giant cucumber on plant #2. The one on plant #1 looks about the same. I will be picking them on Monday, weighing them and then taking the heavier one to the IPE fair in Armstrong where I'm registered in the heaviest cucumber category. They will be displayed there for a week afterwards. I really enjoyed growing these this year and will definitely plant them again next year.   Tuesday, August 27 View Page I brought my 1953 Daletas to the IPE fair in Armstrong where it weighed 448 lbs. Not super huge but I'm glad I was still able to find a use for it. I pulled its plant on August 11th when the pumpkin was on day 36 and it sat in our garage for a couple weeks. I also brought my giant cucumber from plant #1 and it weighed 12.26 lbs. The one on plant #2 weighed 11.5 lbs. Again not super huge but it was my first time growing these and I think I can do better next year.   Saturday, September 7 View Page 2342 Stelts day 61 We had a big dump of rain in mid August after a month and a half without any and the powdery mildew just exploded afterwards, the whole plant is covered in it now. Not sure if I can get a whole lot more growth out of this one because of that but regardless I'm still very happy with this pumpkin.   Monday, October 7 View Page 2342 Stelts day 91. It will be harvested on Friday and taken to the Armstrong pumpkin festival on Saturday. It looks bigger than it is because I'm sitting behind it but it's still a nice fruit for my patch, I'm very happy with it.   Friday, October 11 View Page 2342 Stelts, 421 ott est 1611 lbs. It's the largest I've ever grown, just barely fit in the truck.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page My 2342 Stelts weighed 1408 lbs. I won first place at our local weigh-off. This is my new PB and from what I understand the largest ever grown in the interior of BC. The ott I gave in the previous diary entry was incorrect, I had a brain fart when adding up the numbers. It's actually 411 ott est 1515 lbs. So it still went light but I believe that's due to the shape of the fruit as I will show in the next diary entry.   Tuesday, October 15 View Page The upper left quadrant of the fruit was underdeveloped for some reason. I assume that's probably where that missing 100 lbs went, as the fruit thumps nicely otherwise.   Thursday, October 31 View Page Cut into the side of the 1408 to get the seeds out. I'm kind of surprised it went light to be honest. The flesh on the inner half of the fruit is an interesting texture though, it doesn't seem as dense as the outer half. Perhaps that contributed to it going light.   Saturday, November 2 View Page Harvested the seeds from the 1408. It had a decent seed count.